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Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Helen P. Long Collection, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.

Summary Report

The collection consists mainly of the original correspondence (1839-1869) to and from
José Matías Moreno, with the bulk of it coming in the 1850s and 1860s when Moreno
was an important agent, merchant, and political figure in San Diego and Baja California.
There is also some later material dealing with the subsequent history of his Rancho
Guadalupe in northern Baja California.

José Matías Moreno was born about 1818 in Baja California, the son of a Scottish
whaler and a Mexican mother. As a youth he participated in various revolutionary
movements, and eventually became the secretary to Governor Pio Pico in Alta California in
1845. A strong supporter of Mexico all his life, he fled to Baja California with Pico in
1846 in the face of American forces to continue the fight there against the U.S. After
the war he came to San Diego, where he married the natural daughter of Mariano Guadalupe
Vallejo, thereby becoming related to many of the major californio families. He was vocal
in his opposition to the
californios who had backed the
U.S. in the war, and defended the interests of his fellow Hispanics in their dealings
with American Anglo businessmen. At the same time he acted as an agent, promoting the
development of Baja California and soliciting American capital. He was also long active
in Mexican internal politics in Baja and served in 1861-1862 as political chief of the
border region of the territory for the Mexican government. His frequent extended absences
from home resulted in an extensive correspondence (c.80 letters) with his wife which
lasted throughout their marriage until his death in 1869.

Subject matter: history of San Diego County and northern
Baja California; politics in Baja California and American economic and political
influence there; filibustering; ranchos and land sales; commerce and shipping along the
California coast; mining; social and domestic history of the
californios; Rancho Guadalupe